"I don't see him."
"Well, maybe if you shut up and concentrate we'd find him," a quiet, female voice shot back, her pale, pupil-less eyes glaring at the crouching man next to her. "And stop whining, we haven't even been here that long."
The girl's response caused the man to sigh, an overall annoyed sound. "We've been here long enough," he whispered, almost hissed when his partner turned away from him to look down at the scene below them again. "How do we even know he's here anyway? He's probably not even in the village."
"The mistress said he'd be here, that's why," came the equally annoyed tone. "But hey, if you wanna go back and tell her that she's wrong, be my guest." The girl looked over her shoulder to smirk knowingly at the man. She knew he would never to that.
Instead of answering, the man only frowned at her, his nose scrunching up at the very idea. "Whatever," he shrugged defeated when his partner continued to smirk back at him.
"That's what I thought," the girl snorted, her head turning back to look down below once more. This time, the man joined her.
Both ninjas were crouched on a rooftop, one that sheltered their bodies from the views of others, but gave them a perfect view from inside the specific area – the Hyuga compound to be more precise. The duo had managed to enter the compound unnoticed, a not so easy trait when many of it's inhabitants possessed the Byakugan, but it was an easy move for them. It wasn't like this was the first time they had been there, they knew where to hide.
What exactly they were looking at was the center of the compound, a couple meters away from the main entrance. They had already gone through the other side, now they were left to wait here, while their friends searched the rest of the village. Currently, they could see a few clan members busying themselves with their normal day duties. None of them seemed to notice the two strangers watching from above.
"Man, I fucking hate this place," the man murmured, more to himself then to his partner, but it didn't stop her from nodding in agreement.
"It doesn't seemed to have changed much," she replied under her breath.
"As if it would," the male grunted, his eyes glaring down at the people below. He didn't want to be here. It had been assigned to them, this place. He'd much rather be anywhere else. "Feh, come on," he urged, his mouth pouting in impatience when he still couldn't see any sign of their target. "Let's get out of here already. It's obvious he's not here."
"If you complain one more time," the girl warned him, earning a glare in return, before she focused back on the people. Her irritation at the other ninja was short-lived when a new person stepped into sight – a certain heiress they had been told about. "Takuya, look," she instructed.
"What?" the man frowned. She didn't miss the eye-roll.
"That must be Hinata Hyuga, the next heir to the clan," the girl continued, not paying his attitude any mind. She hadn't ever seen the young heiress before, but she had heard about her. Examining her more, the stranger was less than impressed with what she saw. The young Hyuga wasn't anything you'd expect to see in a future clan leader. She looked small, dainty – almost fragile. What a let down, it was kinda funny.
"Who should I be looking at?" Takuya grumbled, his pale eyes going from one Hyuga member to the next.
"Try the only person down there without a headband, genius," the girl sneered, her irritation coming back.
"..How do we know that isn't Hanabe?" he asked, his eyes taking in the pretty Hyuga below them.
"She's not the right age, it has to be Hinata," the girl said, watching as the little heiress slowly walked down the halls. She seemed to be in deep thought. It was obvious that something was bothering her by the way she held herself, but the stranger found it hard to care.
"Pretty," the stranger named Takuya hummed, but his words didn't hold any admiration, only observation.
The girl huffed at the spoken fact. All these years and the Hyuga clan's next leader was a little girl with similarities to a cream puff.
The two watched as the young heiress left their view, neither moving to follow her. She wasn't the one they were after. Nobody else of much importance came into view after that, only most of the branch members. There was no sign of Hiashi either.
Another few minutes passed, before the girl gave off another annoyed sigh and pushed herself back onto her feet, her partner raising a brow up at her.
"I guess we can go, he's not here and I'm sick of this place," she said, already turning to leave.
Takuya blinked up at her retreating figure, before snorting. "Finally." Forcing himself up too, the man gave one last glare at the scene below him before turning to follow his partner.
It was silly, but Tenten was nervous about showing Neji her shop. She shouldn't be – really, she loved her little store after all, but it didn't stop her nerves from acting up the closer the two got to the weapons store.
Maybe she was worried that he would disapprove or that he would call it 'cute' - admittedly not something the Hyuga prodigy would ever use, but somewhere along the same lines. And there was nothing wrong with a shop being 'cute' or anything, but this was a weapons store, it was also her life now and she didn't want him to be disappointed in her for not furthering her ninja career.
She wanted him to be proud of her.
"So what exactly is it that you sell?" Neji asked, disrupting the silence and forcing the brunette out of her swirling thoughts.
Swallowing down her agitated nerves, Tenten tilted her head up at him as they continued to walk, a bashful smile playing on her lips. "Take a guess."
Neji raised a dark eyebrow at the shorter ninja, his coy expression almost breaking with the slight rise of his lips. "Stuffed pandas?"
The answer had the weaponist stumble to a halt, her face now holding an utterly confused expression. Neji had stopped too to smirk down at her and she realized he was toying with her.
"Seriously?" Tenten couldn't stop the smile forming on her lips. "That's your first guess?"
"I remember you having a strange fascination with them when we were younger," the Hyuga replied, his smirk widening when a bright flush of embarrassment started to appear on her face.
"You promised to never bring that up again!" Tenten accused, bringing her hands to rub at her hot cheeks. She knew how much she resembled a tomato when she blushed. As if she needed to embarrass herself more in front of him today.
Neji at least didn't laugh out loud at her, he had never been the type to do something like that so easily, but he did chuckle slightly at her and if it had been any other day – before the war – if she hadn't missed him so much, she would have stomped off.
Luckily for him, the crave of being near him, soaking in as much of him as she could while he was still there, was far greater than any embarrassment she held.
"For your information Hyuga," Tenten pouted at his chest, still trying to rub away the red form her cheeks. "I own a well-established weapons shop."
"That would have been my second guess," Neji nodded, turning his gaze away from her to ahead of them. The street wasn't busy, but it wasn't empty either. Unlike the hospital however, nobody seemed to notice or care that he was casually walking down the street, considering he had been thought to be dead. Then again, Neji hadn't exactly been very social with the villagers before the war, unless he needed to be and to to be fair they probably thought he was just another Hyuga. He was just grateful that nobody he knew was walking nearby, he couldn't take more of the shocked, suffering looks all his friends and family gave him.
"Neji? You okay?" Tenten asked, still standing next to the quiet Hyuga man. When he looked down at her again he was greeted with her worried look once again. She was giving it to him a lot today. "You spaced out," she continued slowly. "Um..if you want we can sit down or something..?"
Her offer was careful, going softer in tone at the end. She was trying not to offend him, knowing how prideful he could be and Neji knew it, but didn't need it. He honestly felt fine, just a bit frustrated with himself for not knowing where he had been for apparently the last few years.
"I'm starting to think that you don't want me to see your shop," Neji teased, attempting to change the subject. "Could it be that you actually are selling toy pandas?"
Tenten didn't immediately react to the tease, her eyes still holding that uncertainty, but in the end, she decided to play along, giving a forced smile that Neji could see right through. He didn't mention though.
"If you're sure?" she said.
"Lead the way," the Hyuga instructed and then followed the konoichi further down the street.
It was a short walk before Tenten stopped in front of a modest building. Neji caught the nervous breath she let out, before twirling around to grin back at him, her hands spread out.
"Well, this is it. Welcome to 'Tenten's Weapon Shop'! The ideal place to for-fill your ninja needs!" she declared.
Neji smiled at his old teammate, before raising his chin and letting his powerful eyes take in the full structure. It wasn't very big, maybe one and a half times bigger than what he remembered that old ramen shop Naruto used to love. From what he could tell, the structure was solid, the paint job a dark ivory colour and a ref roof top. There were signs and, through the windows were smaller weapons on display. Like all the other stores on the street, Tenten's shop was boxed in between others, but the Hyuga was proud to note that the others didn't stand out as much as his friend's. He liked it.
"Impressive," Neji simply said, his eyes going back to a stiff Tenten, but the word seemed to relax the brunette, her tepid smile widening.
"Thanks, uh-lets go inside, just let me-" she fumbled around in her pants pockets, searching for her keys. 'Where did I put those..?'
"Is it possible that you left your keys at the hospital?" Neji asked, watching the girl feel up her clothes for them. "We can always go back?"
"Don't be silly," Tenten waved him off, before looking back at her shop with furrowed eyebrows. Before Neji could offer to run back himself, Tenten bent over and emptied out a small flower pot next to the entrance. "Ah-ha! Found em!" Tenten smiled triumphantly at the keys when they fell into her waiting palm.
"...You left your keys in a flower pot?" Neji frowned. "Tenten anybody could have easily found them and broken in."
"Relax," Tenten replied, looking over her shoulder to stick out her tongue at him, before pushing herself up again. "I always put them in a different hiding spot."
Neji still frowned at the logic, but didn't say anything as Tenten unlocked the store's entrance and then opened the door. Before walking in, she shot Neji another smile, this time accompanied by a quick wink and the Hyuga rolled his eyes at her. She could be such a child sometimes.
Following her inside, Neji took in the entire room. It had a homey feel to it, rather than just being an everyday weapon's store. By the teller, Tenten had vases of her favorite flowers. He could also see picture frames of their old team photo. There were weapons decorating the walls, not overpoweringly, but actually very stylish and professional. He could just imagine Tenten running around, measuring every corner of the room – finding the perfect places to display her weapons – only to changer her mind half way and start all over.
An amused smile stretched across the Hyuga's lips at the thought. It was most likely how the preparing of the store had gone. Tenten was a perfectionist in her own right – at least with her weapons. It was something she had a knack for and so had always wanted to give it her all.
"Make yourself comfortable," Tenten said as she hung up her keys near the door, before turning to face him with a nervous grin, his eyes easily caught how her teeth sunk into her bottom lip.
Neji met her frigidity gaze with a curious one of his own. His attention on her only seemed to add to her surprising anxiety and the girl held on to one of her arms, squeezing anxiously. He didn't like it – this strange, uncomfortable atmosphere. They had never had this sort of problem in the past, even during the days of their genin years. Despite his then 'unwelcoming attitude', he had been able to tolerate his female teammate a lot easier than the other two members.
Of cause, given the circumstances, Neji could understand her behavior, but in all honesty, he'd have expected more skepticism than whatever was happening now.
He wanted this feeling to go away.
When Tenten awkwardly diverted her gaze from him, Neji had decided he'd had enough and made to approach her.
"Tenten-"
"Neji," the brunette uttered at the same time, her eyes finding his once more when she heard him say her name too.
He was closer to her again, a few inches away, but too far for her to touch him again – the way she so desperately wanted to. It was greedy and pathetic and she needed to control herself. It wasn't fair to Neji who didn't feel like he had been out of her life for so long.
Her feelings would heal once she got used to having him around again, but until then she needed to make Neji feel like nothing had changed – at least in some things.
"I'm gonna make us some tea," Tenten said with a tense smile, that last thought set in her mind. Not waiting for Neji's response, the weaponist strode off passed the front desk and through open door behind it, presumably where the tea supplies were held.
Neji watched her exit the room, a sigh leaving his lips when she was gone. Tenten was never a very good actress and her attempt of hiding her anxiousness was poor. He have to find a way to calm her damn, the Hyuga decided mentally, one hand reaching to comb through his greasy hair. The feeling made him cringe and he instantly retracted his hand.
Maybe he should ask Tenten if he could use her shower...wherever it was she lived now. Did she still live in that same apartment? He sincerely hoped not. He had made it known to her how much he had hated that sketchy place.
Neji sighed again, this time more bitterly at his lack of knowledge. For the first time since he was told the news, he wondered just how many things had changed in his absence. All he could tell so far was that Sakura now had a job at the hospital, Shikamaru was for some reason working under the Hokage – who just happened to be Kakashi and that Tenten had a weapons shop.
He was both intrigued and shocked to hear of some of those facts and now that he thought about it, he wasn't sure how he would take the rest of the news.
But, the world couldn't have changed that much in his absence...could it?
He was getting a headache and the Hyuga made to rub his temple, only for his fingers to twitch away from his forehead from the lack of material there.
Right – there was also that little mystery.
He had almost forgotten about the missing seal on his forehead. Even Hiashi had been confused and speechless to find the mark gone. Neji hadn't been in the right state of mind or body to have a proper conversation with his uncle last night, but he had managed to listen to what the doctors and Kakashi had talked about with the older Hyuga. He didn't remember much from last night, but he knew that his uncle had no answer for the missing seal.
There was only one way to get rid of it – death.
"You okay with jasmine?" Tenten called from the other room, startling the man out of his rapid thoughts. "It's all I have!"
It took a split second for Neji to register her words before replying loud enough for her to hear. "Jasmine is fine."
When it grew quiet again and the only sounds came from the kettle, Neji decided to keep himself busy, not wanting to get caught up in his head again. Instead, he took to admiring the store again, this time more closely as he walked from stand to stand.
Tenten really had made quiet the collection over the years, he was slightly surprised that she wanted to sell some of them, but he did note that some of her more unique and prized weapons were nowhere to be seen.
Eventually coming to the front desk, Neji's eyes almost instantly landed on the photo fame containing their first team photo. Picking it up, Neji almost snorted at the familiar image. They had all been so nieave and small there. Tenten was in the center of the photo, seemingly being the only one ecstatic to be there – well besides Gai. Even Lee didn't seem to be all that interested, but that had been before the goofball had taken on the green leotard.
Come to think of it, Neji hadn't seen Lee or Gai since he woke up. Had they even been informed of his...uh..arrival? He wondered what they had gotten up to in the previous few years.
Another photo caught the Hyuga's eye, one in a taller, newer frame than the one he was holding. Setting down the one in his hand, Neji Picked up the next one, his eyes widening at the sight of – what he first had thought to be his sensei – but a closer look confirmed it to be Lee.
The picture was of Tenten and a broader-looking Rock Lee, the youth-obsessed man having his green-clad arm hanging off of a brightly, smiling Tenten. The two friends were standing in front of Tenten's store – at that time the building seemed to have a faded paint job.
'This must have been the opening of Tenten's shop,' Neji thought as his eyes continued to trace the picture.
The sound of Tenten's footsteps had the Hyuga lower the picture in his hand, turning to look back a the women carrying a tray.
"Hey, I found some muffins – I wasn't sure if you had breakfast so..." Tenten's words trailed off when she caught what he was holding. A gasp cut through her throat, but she did a good job of stifling it and instead bit into her bottom lip, her eyes going back to find his own.
The two teammates continued to stare at each other, neither one saying a word, but they didn't really need to anyway.
After a moment that felt like forever, Neji retracted his eyes from the strong stare and turned back to the desk. With a gentle movement, the Hyuga placed the frame back on it's place, next to the only other photograph.
"...A think that I've missed a lot more than just Kakashi becoming Hokage."
Tenten watched him, watched his body language, listening to the tone of his voice. Neji didn't sound broken – not like how he had earlier when the first left the hospital. His voice was controlled, neutral even. It meant he was trying.
Tenten knew what that felt like.
A small, honest smile crossed Tenten's face, her grip on the large tray tightening, before she slowly walked over to stand next to the Hyuga, whose eyes caught and followed her as she did. When she was next to him, she set the tray on her desk. She could feel the pale eyes boring down at her, a feeling that both frightened her and eased her at the same time.
Instead of meeting his gaze, Tenten chose to look down at the picture he had been holding – the scene playing in her head at the familiar picture. It had been a special day for her, the day she had finally made her mark in the village – even if it was only a store. She had been so excited, probably the most she had smiled since the accident...if only for a few hours she had forgotten…
"Was that the first opening?" Neji softly asked and Tenten's hazy eyes cleared.
"Yeah," she answered, not needing to ask him what he meant. "...Ino was the one to take the picture. She insisted that we commemorate the day. She had been trying to make me pose all day...it was kinda embarrassing actually."
A soft hum of amusement sounded from the Hyuga. "I can imagine."
Tenten let out a small chuckle at the memory, how annoyed she had been at the blonde, when she was trying so hard to prepare everything – to make it perfect.
"I only gave in when Lee started going against me too," she continued. "But I said he had to be in it with me, I thought it was fair considering he had helped me pull the place together. You should have seen this place when I first bought it."
Neji smiled a small smile, his eyes back on the photograph. "...I'm happy for you." The quiet word had Tenten tilting her head to look back up at him, her chest tightening again despite her protests. Why did this have to be so hard?
"Lee..." Tenten voice cracked. "..You know that day um, Lee said that you were there." Neji's hauntingly pale eyes found hers again and her words went quieter. "He said you were there in spirit...I wanted to believe him."
The Hyuga man's eyes widened for a second, before going warm in understanding – something close to pain held in them. "Tenten."
"I guess we were wrong," Tenten said, a sad smile on her face. It was what made the Hyuga narrow his eyes to the desk again.
"...I wish I had been there. I-"
"Hey," Tenten interrupted him and she couldn't stop her yearning hands from reaching out to do what she had been wanting since she first saw him.
She touched him.
Soft, tan hands gently, almost fearfully grasped pale, strong cheeks. She didn't miss how he swallowed and tensed at the touch, but he didn't stop her, so she gently directed him to face her, finding his eyes.
Neji.
Neji's eyes.
"I'm sorry," Neji murmured and Tenten almost pinched him. He had nothing to apologize for, nothing at all.
Tenten's lips stretched into a watery smile as she looked up at him, her head shaking slowly.
"You're here now."
Naruto let out a long sigh and ran a hand through his short, messy hair.
It was well into the middle of the day already and the blond hero was currently sitting on the ground, a few meters away from Neji's now dug up grave. Sai and his troops had only left about twenty minutes or so ago, but Naruto stayed behind.
They still hadn't found anything.
Naruto had even joined in the digging and searching, only to get nothing out of it. One thing was for sure though – Neji was not ten feet underground, something he had already accepted at the hospital, but at least now this could help to convince everyone else. He wasn't sure how Hiashi or the other Hyuga's were taking this, but if they did feel doubtful, hopefully this would change that.
He wasn't even sure how Hinata felt about it – he knew she was shocked and overwhelmed, which was natural. The way she acted after seeing her cousin in the hospital – the last Naruto had seen her – she seemed…
Naruto grimaced at the memory. It had been such a long time since he saw Hinata cry like that. It wasn't something he wanted to make a habit of, he just hoped that wouldn't all end in more pain.
Moving his hands from his hair to rub over his face, Naruto closed his eyes in an attempt to think – really think. He had promised Neji that he would find out what happened to him and he wasn't about to go back on it, but he had really been hoping to find something today, maybe a clue. Unfortunately he was going to have to take on a different approach...but where was he supposed to start?
"I figured you'd still be here."
Naruto's eyes slowly opened at the voice, his hands falling to his lap. "Hey, teme," he greeted, not bothering to look back at the raven behind him. He had sensed his strong chakra a while back, his friend wasn't exactly being sneaky. "What are you doing here?"
The sound of crunching grass could be heard as the Uchiha walked over to stand next to the sitting blond. "Wanted to find out if you found anything," the mono tone voice answered.
Naruto nodded, before looking straight over to where Neji's empty grave was. The sun was blazing today and the ninja had to squint to see properly.
"I take it that your silence means you didn't," Sasuke said after a minute.
"Yeah, that's right," Naruto sighed out, eyes tracing the letters that spelled out the once-thought-to-be-dead Hyuga's name. "ANBU troops left a while back," he muttered under his breath. "Sai's gone to speak to Kakashi and to figure out their next move."
"Hn."
"...There was no body Sasuke," Naruto murmured.
"And you think that's proof that this guy's the real Neji?" Sasuke's low voice countered casually.
"No, but it's a start," the blond replied. He knew that a missing body wasn't enough to convince the whole village, but it was something – at least they got that out of today. No. He still needed to find out where Neji had been for all those years, what he had been doing and why he can't remember any of it. Too bad it was easier said than done, he didn't even know where else to look for answers.
"Where are you gonna go from here? Do you have a plan?"
Freaky, how it seemed that Sasuke could sometimes read his thoughts. Sakura had the same power, maybe he was just that predictable?
"Maybe I'll go speak with Neji again," Naruto thought out loud, earning a "Tch" from the other man. Raising an eyebrow, the blond leaned back to stare at the Uchiha questioningly. "What?"
"I thought the Hyuga couldn't remember anything," Sasuke just about scoffed – well Naruto imagined he would if he wasn't so stoic all the time, but the way he said it was probably the closest Sasuke would get to it.
"Oh come on, Sasuke," Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man towering above him. "Who says Neji won't start to remember after a couple days? The doctor said he just needed some rest to calm down, remember?"
"I remember it being very convenient."
"The guy was almost drained of chakra! Did you expect him to sing what happened to him?"
"Hn."
"You know you can't end all your arguments like that right?" Naruto pouted when Sasuke turned to leave.
"We'll see who's right," Sasuke said as he continued to walk away from his old teammate.
Naruto's pout only deepened as he watched the departing man, before begrungingly jumping to his feet. "Oi! Wait up, I'm coming too!" Naruto yelled out, but unsurprisingly the Uchiha didn't even look over his shoulder and continued walking.
"Teme," Naruto muttered with a scrunched up nose. If only Sasuke had matured as much as he did.
Something that sounded like a snapped twig sounded behind Naruto and the blond swirled around in a flash into a fighting stance, his hands tense behind him and reaching for his kunai. Blue, focused eyes scanned around the graveyard for the source of the sound, but found nothing.
The area was still as silent and empty as before.
Nothing else made a noise after that. Was it just the wind?
After a minute, Naruto's eyes drew back to the grave, something like a cold fever going over his body.
Standing up straighter, Naruto walked a bit closer to the open grave. When his feet stepped onto the abused and grass-less ground, Naruto slowly leaned over the whole.
Nothing.
Blinking, Naruto forcibly shook his head, his shoulders relaxing instantly from the action. What was he doing? They had already made sure that the grave was empty. What? Did he expect to see a zombie or something? The thought had the blond shiver.
With one last look at the empty grave, Naruto sighed once more before turning to try and catch up with Sasuke.
He didn't notice the two figures hiding between the trees watching down on him.
"Did you here that?" One of them asked, their voice quiet.
"I'm not deaf..." the other responded gruffly, before turning his gaze from the jogging blond to his comrad. "The mistress isn't going to like them messing about in this, you know."
"I don't think it'll be a problem," the women huffed. "They won't find anything else."
"...So, are we going after them or what?"
A sly smile replaced the annoyed frown on the others face, before she focused on their new target.
"Obviously. After all...he knows where Neji is."
Hi everyone!
This is chapter 6 (Sorry for taking so long). School's hectic...
Hope you like this chapter, I know it's short, but hopefully the next one will be longer :D
Please let me know what you think (Leave a review! Please!)